In the Lifeboat Journal, No. 11, we gave as one reason for the discontinuance of the register of shipwrecks on the coasts of the United Kingdom, which we had previously inserted that a wreck register was being compiled at the Admiralty, which would be annually presented to Parliament. That document for 1853 has now been published, which enables us to furnish our readers with a summary of its contents.

It is as usual, a fearful list, numbering 882 disasters ; but it is gratifying to observe, so far as loss of property is concerned, that the register for 1853 shows a very considerable decrease in the number of wrecks and casualties, as compared with the preceding year, when 1115 occurred.

In the gales of February, March, April, and July, 1853, the numbers exceeded those of the same months in 1852, and the month of May in each year produced the same amount ; but in all the other months of 1853, the numbers fell much short of those in the corresponding months of the previous year.

This may be accounted for by the fact that the gales of the winter months of 1853 were less frequent and of shorter duration, although they blew with occasional violence. On the other hand, however, the year 1853 records a loss of 989 lives, being 89 more than were lost in 1852, when the number, so far as is known, was 920. This increased number in proportion to the number of wrecks was caused by the great sacrifice of life which occurred in two or three individual instances. Thus, the loss of the Annie Jane shows 360 alone, that of the Queen Victoria 83, and of the Dalhousie 59.

There can be no doubt that these total numbers for each year show considerably less than the actual amount of loss of life which has occurred on and around our coast, as there are no means at command for ascertaining the number of those whose vessels sail out of port and are never again heard of. The lives of fishermen and other boatmen are undoubtedly also often lost without any official returns being made of the same.

The Admiralty Register of Wrecks is compiled principally from the Coastguard returns, from Lloyd's published list, from the Shipping and Mercantile Gazette, and from the official reports of Lloyd's agents around the coast to the Admiralty. It is prepared by Commander J. V. Read, R N., and although imperfect, as any each register must be there is no doubt that it is the most complete account of wrecks published.

Annexed to the returns is a wreck chart, on which a black spot marks the site of each wreck, fire, or collision, as far as can be ascertained.

The following is a summary of the Register :

The wrecks on the coasts and in the seas of the United Kingdom, in the year 1853, were 832, which may be thus classed:-

The number of casualties in each month were:-

Of these, 253 occurred on the east coast of Great Britain ; 76 on the south coast, and 130 on the west coast ; 81 wrecks took place on the coasts of Ireland; 6 were cast on shore at Scilly; 11 at the Channel Islands ; 3 at Orkney and Shetland; and 12 at the Isle of Man ; the remaining 260 wrecks occurred in the surrounding seas.

The whole loss of lives during the year, as far as has been ascertained, amounts to 989.

Of these,

18 went down with the Herald, which sunk of the Start, after collision with a schooner at night, on the 15th of January ;

83 in the Queen Victoria Steam-ship which ran on the rocks near the Bailey Lighthouse, Dublin at night and sunk on the 15th of February ;

11, (the crews of two Lossiemouth fishing boats) were lost on the 23rd of February ;

11 in the barque Irene, upset in the Mersey on the 26th of February, in a heavy gate ;

16 in the Duke of Sutherland steamship, wrecked at the pierhead, Aberdeen, on the 1st of April ;

12 in the Richardson, which sunk near St. Bees Head on the 22nd of April ;

12 in the Olive Branch, which sailed from Shields for London on the 25th of April, and

has not been heard of since;

10 in the St. Tudno, which sailed from Newcastle on the 17th of May, and has not been heard of ;

360 in the Annie Jane, from Liverpool, bound to Montreal, wrecked on Isle Vatersa, Hebrides, in a heavy gale on the 28th of September;

59 in the Dalhousie, which foundered off Beechy Head, on the night of the 19th of October ;

20 died on board the Isaac Wright, which was stranded on the Irish coast, and put

back to Liverpool in distress on the 4th of October ;

15 in the California packet, from Sligo for New York, laden with iron, which foundered 160 miles west of Ireland, on the 4 of November ;

60 in the Marshall steamship, which foundered off the Humber, in collision with the barque Woodhouse, at night, on the 28th of November;

19 who were washed overboard from the E. Z. at sea in distress, on the passage from Liverpool to New York, on the 6th of December;

10 in the Caravane, wrecked near Blackwater Head, Wexford, in a heavy gale, on the 19th of December ;

18 in the Chatham, wrecked on the bar of Drogheda, on the night of the 19th of December; and

9 is the Eva screw steam vessel, which parted asunder and sunk off Lambay Island on the 27th of December.

The remainder were lost in smaller groups; to which are to be added an uncertain, though, without doubt, a large number drowned in missing ships.

How many painful reflections is such a return calculated to awaken in, every mind? That 1000 lives (which may be taken as a probable average) should be thus, every year, prematurely cut off on our own coasts alone, is, indeed, a melancholy fact. There is no other calling of life than that of those whose " business is on the great waters " in which so constant and great a sacrifice of life takes place.

When the scourge of war is raging, we hear of larger numbers perishing together in a comparatively short time. We are, however, accustomed to look on war as a great but necessary evil, which the wisdom of a Divine but Benevolent Providence sees fit to inflict on his creatures at intervals of time, doubtless, to promote the ultimate benefit of mankind, by the changes which, in the present imperfect condition of this unsettled world, can, perhaps, only by such means be brought about. We are accustomed to look on those who perish on the field of battle as men whose calling and duty, it is to seek such an end when their country's good shall require the sacrifice ; and renown and glory have in all ages been held to accompany such a death ; all of which reasons contribute to make it a picture less gloomy and sad to look upon than that encountered in the daily avocations of life ; when the last struggle is with the elements alone, and the gurgling waters, as they close over their victim, separate him for ever from all the ties of life.

But after all, the most painful part of the subject to our minds is the question which forces itself on us. How much of the sacrifice of life and consequent human misery might have been prevented ? A sense of neglected opportunity is, probably, one of the most painful reflections which ever saddens the human breast, as, without doubt, it is one of the most alarming that ever arouses the long slumbering conscience at the last hour. But a nation collectively may be awakened to a sense of " neglected opportunity " as well as an individual ; and, as with an individual, well is it if such takes place before it be too late- before the opportunity be taken away.

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